Opotiki Town Centre Historic Heritage Study Part One
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OPOTIKI TOWN CENTRE HISTORIC HERITAGE STUDY PART ONE Prepared for Opotiki District Council New Zealand Historic Places Trust Environment Bay of Plenty By Matthews & Matthews Architects Ltd Lyn Williams R A Skidmore and Associates Archaeology B.O.P. March 2006 OPOTIKI TOWN CENTRE HISTORIC HERITAGE STUDY PART ONE Prepared for Opotiki District Council New Zealand Historic Places Trust Environment Bay of Plenty By Matthews & Matthews Architects Ltd Lyn Williams R A Skidmore and Associates Archaeology B.O.P. March 2006 OPOTIKI TOWN CENTRE HISTORIC HERITAGE STUDY OPOTIKI TOWN CENTRE HISTORIC HERITAGE STUDY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The aim of the Opotiki Historic Heritage Study is to gather information about the development of Opotiki, and to use this information to look at the ongoing management of heritage resources from a base of understanding and knowledge. It is important to recognise that there can be a shift in what we value over time, particularly as information and knowledge of a place is extended. Places we value now may not always have been recognised or valued as highly. The Study has confirmed that the Opotiki town centre contains a built heritage resource of regional and national significance. Research, inspections and analysis undertaken as part of the study provide comprehensive information about heritage resources in Opotiki. The Opotiki Historic Heritage Study includes an historic overview of Opotiki which summarises key themes in the historic development of the centre. This research has been used to analyse built and archaeological heritage resources in Opotiki town centre and to review the approach to management of these resources, as a knowledgeable starting point for this debate. Potential options to enhance the management of heritage resources in Opotiki have been proposed. The social history of Opotiki can be divided into two widely different phases focussed on the year 1865: life for Opotiki’s residents was vastly different before and after this date. Several hundred years of occupation by tangata whenua Whakatohea leading a traditional Maori lifestyle had been slowly influenced over the first few decades of the 19th Century by the introduction of European religion, material goods, livestock, crops, agricultural techniques and equipment, faster boats and wider trading networks, as well as alcohol and previously unknown diseases. Initial Maori-Pakeha contacts in the settlement of Pakowhai were indirect and sparse; by the 1840s this had changed to more sustained, longer-term contacts with a few Pakeha living near to or amongst Whakatohea at Opotiki. In 1865 a major clash of cultures ended in Whakatohea’s land being confiscated. Opotiki was surveyed and became a European-style township with a predominantly European population, under the Auckland Province and adhering to New Zealand laws and customs. Whakatohea and other Maori gradually moved back into Opotiki and today have a strong influence in local government and administration. Opotiki’s first years as a European settlement were as part of the military frontier of the colonial government. Opotiki provided a base for troop movements, with newly-built wharves allowing relatively easy sea access for people and supplies. The town’s growth depended strongly on its coastal location, especially as agricultural development in the surrounding districts resulted in large quantities of maize, wheat, dairy products, wool and other produce requiring export. The port facilities grew, and Opotiki became a service centre for the rural communities, not just providing commercial services but social, recreational and religious activities as well. Government agencies and local bodies had their bases in Opotiki as the largest town in the district. Opotiki’s boom time was the last decades of the 19th Century through to the 1930s. In 1921 Opotiki was much bigger than Te Puke, Whakatane or Taupo, but improvements in road and rail transport and the silting up of the harbour meant that sea freight became more difficult and less economic. The result was a slowing of growth, now counteracted with new i OPOTIKI TOWN CENTRE HISTORIC HERITAGE STUDY enterprises, the establishment of small industries, fruit growing and the attractions of the eastern Bay of Plenty as a retirement haven. The history of Opotiki is evidenced in physical and material remains represented by archaeological sites, historic buildings and other structures. Studying the architecture of the town’s buildings reveals evidence of different phases of its history. The history is known also through people’s memories, through traditions, through stories passed on within whanau and hapu, clubs and church groups, and through the records of local individuals, councils, businesses and organisations. The town centre is one of the best surviving examples of a town centre from the late 19th Century early 20th Century in the upper North Island, retaining a broad range of building types. In addition to the historic commercial core in Church Street it retains many of its early churches and church halls including St Stephen’s in Church St; St John’s church in St John St, the Presbyterian church in Ford Street; the Salvation Army Barracks in King Street, the Maori Mission Hall (former Temperance Union hall) in Elliott Street and the Methodist Church in the southern area of town, built in 1911 from bricks made at the Opotiki brick kiln. These buildings provide further evidence of the size and consolidation of the community in the decades around the turn of the 20th Century. The longevity of the Roman Catholic parish is represented by the old schoolrooms on Grey Street. The commercial centre contains some of its earliest timber shops such as Shalfoon Bros, hotels including the Opotiki Hotel , Masonic Hotel and former Royal Hotel, together with a number of early commercial, theatre, retail and industrial buildings from the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. During the phase of rapid expansion, many of the simple buildings were replaced with substantial structures built of permanent materials. The intact survival of a broad range of building types gives Opotiki a unique heritage character. Archaeological sites exist within the town centre and its environs; however there are no recorded sites in Opotiki. Many sites will have been damaged by later developments if those later developments involved radical earthworks. Many sites will be sealed in by paving or tar seal and floors of buildings. But in many cases some evidence of the previous use of the site will be retrievable through methodical archaeological mapping, excavation and analysis. A review of potential archaeological resources has been carried out as part of the study. Recent nationwide surveys by heritage organisations in England reflect similar feelings in many New Zealand towns and cities: that communities really value their distinctive, local, ordinary places and the overall context and character created by the relationship of people to a particular place over time. Scheduling and heritage inventories by contrast have tended to focus on the extra-ordinary, the best examples, and most significant individual places. As a result of the study options for statutory and non-statutory methods to enhance the ongoing management of the collective values of heritage resources and future development in Opotiki are put forward. The research undertaken provides an amazing resource for Opotiki that will help in understanding what is there, what is special about it, and hopefully promoting that to the community, new investors and tourists. The information collated can be readily utilised to develop heritage walks and to provide interpretive information about Opotiki to enhance understanding for visitors. The study will also assist Opotiki District Council in the process of identification of buildings prone to earthquake damage and developing a strategy to mitigate potential risk. Research and inspections undertaken provide the base data that will assist with ongoing structural assessments. The Opotiki Historic Heritage Study report is in two parts. Part One includes the thematic historic overview, a summary of cultural heritage values associated with the town centre as a ii OPOTIKI TOWN CENTRE HISTORIC HERITAGE STUDY whole and a review of management of heritage resources. Options for enhancing heritage management through statutory and non-statutory methods are proposed. Part Two contains an inventory of heritage places within the town centre study area. This is supported by record forms for twenty seven places which have been researched in detail, as part of this Study and by the Trust. Partial record forms have been prepared for a large number of additional places to collate base information that was gathered during the study. Further research for some of these places is suggested where the study has shown that they warrant further investigation and possible protection. Appendices contain supporting information including a more detailed review of Regional Policy Statement and District Plan sections related to the management and protection of heritage. New Zealand Archaeological Association Site Record Forms prepared for three archaeological sites/ archaeological landscapes in Opotiki are included in the appendices. iii OPOTIKI TOWN CENTRE HISTORIC HERITAGE STUDY OPOTIKI TOWN CENTRE HISTORIC HERITAGE STUDY - PART ONE TABLE OF CONTENTS OPOTIKI TOWN CENTRE HISTORIC HERITAGE STUDY - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................i